Since there are a lot of us here in Germany… and there seems to be a lot of people doing the Euro Delivery program… I thought it would be fun to post some pics of what the Polizei do here to enforce speed control!

I have always liked to collect Polizei models and pictures. These are some from my internet collection. :P

It is always a good idea to know what measures the Polizei use for speed enforcement. Here is my little attempt at educating you guys. Although some of the old timers will most likely know all of this stuff. Please feel free to add any photos you might have as well.

NOTE: Photos from rurradar.de

blitz vogel ( radar bird) yea… it’s a joke! I’ve gotta have some fun!

Typical radar camera, mounted on a tripod. Polizei set it up and retreat into their van to watch the speeder info.

older Blitzer box.

Typical speed camera, inside most German cities/towns.

Mega Blitzer auf die Autobahn!

There will always be a plain jane van near by the radar trap. Typically the Polizei setup their camera’s at an exit/entrance to the autobahn. Or… at a restplatz on the autobahn. Just follow the wires! Lol

Laser pistol

Laser...

Laser...

Laser sights...

New digital radar cameras. Sometimes they cover three or four lanes of autobahn! Mainly used in NRW Germany.

Speed camera on top of autobahn bridge. Typically they use two or three cameras. On on top of the bridge. One directly bellow guard rail level, and a third wider shot ontop of the bridge. The wide angle one is usually video too. Not just stills. They also use this setup for tail gaiters: Abstand

This new scanner came out a few years ago, Invented in BS (Braunschwieg I think). It works like a Blitzer… but it uses a laser to scan you front plate and checks your tag in a “wanted” data base. To get on the wanted list it could be for not paying you car tax, no TuV or ASU, No insurance, speeding tickets or outstanding warrants! It works all in a few seconds. And they place a few cops down the road to stop the known offenders.

Mobile blitzer

Unmarked polizei autos. It is VERY hard to spot them! The only real way is to look for two people in the car. That is normally the dead give away. Most times the Autobahn polizie do not wear uniforms. They dress in civies.

Rear shelf camera. The passenger can zoom, and turn the rear camera to record any action. Like when over taking the offender to record who was driving at that time!

Front windshield video camera.

STOP! Polizei!! This is a bad feeling when a car passes in front of you and this message pops up and flashes at you!

Red light or speed camera in town/cities. Most cities will have four or five of these boxes… but only ONE camera! They play a shell game… you don’t know which are empty and which are real! :P

Trash camera! YuP! This one is for real!

Here is the latest digital photo radar camera. Also used up in NRW mostly.

Toys: Playmobil

Real life police cars on the beat…

And finally I think most everyone has seen this Polizei special 123d coupe. It was from the Essen Motor Show 2009, for the Tune It Safe program. 243 Diesel Hp!!!

I posted this before... but I suppose this would fit nicely in here too!

I thought I'd share this...

Near here in Bayreuth, the Polizei are looking for this guy in this Audi A4. It is some Brit who when he see's a Blitz camera he purposely speeds up and gets flashed. BUT... his car is RHD, and he puts a big muppet doll up on the windshield. Apperently the speed cameras are designed to NOT photograph the passengers. SOmething about the lenes they use. Its only setup for LHD cars!

Obscurring the passenger seat goes back to when the Germans first started using photo radar. They use to mail out a letter/ticket along with the offending photo. Apperantly the divorce rate shot up(!), bc many men were caught with their pants down! lol That is why when you get a ticket now, in the mail you must ASK to see the photo. And only the driver can come. lol

Btw... last I heard they were still looking for this Muppet! I have also heard that some people keep a UK car here in Germany and a German plated car in the UK. That way when they get flashed they do not get the ticket unless there is a real cop to stop them!

That is an extremely comprehensive list of speed cameras and related information. The one that pulled me over was a VW station wagon. It had the green stripes and was either grey or white, I don't recall. They were always German cars, but seemed to vary depending on the region. Munich was almost always BMWs.

Also for any cars with a light bar on the top, on the back of the light bar is a scrolling message LED screen.

When I was pulled over, they came in front of me, lit the lights and the screen said, what I assume to be "Follow" in German since they led me off the Autobahn to a rest stop. Very polite, very good English as well.

Yea... the type of polizei cars varries by region. In Bayern they use BMW's and Audi's alot. And of course the cops love their vans. Mostly VW or MB's. Basically it varies by what car factories are in each part of the country. In Frankfurt they drive Opels (bc thats where Opels are built). In the North they drive most VWs. In Stuttgart they drive mostly Mecedes Benz's. And a few Porsches!! Really. In the Koln/Cologne area they drive Fords. So it varies alot.

Basically cops always are paired. So... I never race or do stupid things when I see a car with two people in it. When you are driving at warp speeds on the autobahn you have no chance to spot a unmarked Polizei auto. No way will you see those hidden cameras. Heck... I even saw on German TV the polizei used RV's to see when trucks would pass illegally!!! lol

Btw... one funny thing... some Germans call the cops Bulls. As in "die Bullen" as in cows/bulls. I have even seen a few old VW vans done up in "Bullizei" logos instead of Polizei striips! lol

Here are two cool Porsche Polizei models I saw last weekend at the new Porsche Museum in Zuffenhausen/Stuttgart. Enjoy! They were real Polizei service cars. Actually Porsche has always donated a few examples of all thier model lines to the local Autobahn Polizei.

Wow..nice collection.
But to be honest most of the autobahn polizei are pretty unobtrusive.
As long as your are not speeding in areas of the autobahn that have posted speed limits, not tailgating, or a truck driver they won't mess with you. I lived there for 12years and got 3 tickets, 1 from a speeding camera (was new to an area and didn't know it was there) and the others from mobile station. Pretty good I think considering the higher speed limits.

On a side note concerning the polizei; they will even set up "drug" roadblocks during the day or night similar to our DUI/seatbelt roadblocks....If they suspect you they will make you pull over, get out of the car, go into a building they have commisioned (usually right next to the roadblock), and then take an impromptu urine test.

Yes it does happen, yes it happened to me...I was more amused than upset or surprised....and they were very nice during the whole process so it was even harder to be really upset.

Basically anytime you see a car or van parked on the side of the road(perfectly perpendicular to the road)... you should take note.

Also... when you are speeding inside the city limits the penalty is much more severe than when your outside of the city limits(yellow city sign!). This is why I only speed "a little bit" when I am on the autobahn. And even then... not more than 20kph, bc after that it can get very expensive.

ALSO never speed when the autobahns change or intersect or when in a construction zone. When the speed drops to 80 kph or even 60 kph on the Autobahn, for sure there are cameras there. I also never speed when I know there is a football(soccer) game going on in the area. Thats like free money for the Polizei. How do you know a game is on that day? Just look for the soccer scarves hanging out of the car windows on the autobahn!